Rationale:
The goal of reading is comprehension. One strategy
that aids comprehension is summarization. Summarization must be
taught
and explained through rules in order to help children understand and
remember
what they have read. Teaching children how to summarize includes
instruction on how to delete trivial details and redundancies, place
items and
events in order, and create a statement that contains the message the
writer is
trying to convey. By providing children with instruction on how
to
construct summaries, they will be equipped with the knowledge of how to
better
interpret the meaning of the texts they read.

2 pieces of butcher paper (one
blank for teacher to draw a web on and one with 5 summarization rules
listed: pick out the important details, pick out the details that
are
repeated or are not important and get rid of them, use easy keywords to
highlight important details, list those keywords in order as they
appeared in
the passage, trim the list of keywords to make one topic sentence)

Overhead projector is optional

Procedure:
1.First, review silent reading with the
class. "Today, we are going to review silent reading. Does anyone
remember what
this is? Silent reading is when we read to ourselves with our
eyes, but
not out loud. Does anyone remember why we read silently? We do
this
because it helps us to understand what we are reading. There are also
other
things we can do to help us understand what we are reading. One of
these ways
is by summarizing our text. Who can tell me what it means to summarize?
When we summarize something we retell it, but we leave out the
unimportant
information and stress the important parts and main idea. When
summarizing a
text, your version should be shorter than what you read.Next ask the students, “Why is summarization
important for reading?" Explain that it helps us understand what is
read. "Today I'm going to teach you some tips to help you summarize
what you read and
then we will practice together."

2.Explain that there
are five steps to summarization. Explain the steps to the
children and
have them either written on the board or on a large enough piece of
butcher
paper for the entire class to see: "When we summarize, we do it
using five steps. These five steps help us summarize more
easily. I
have those five steps written out for you to see. First, pick out
the
important details. Second, pick out the details that are repeated
or are
not important and get rid of them. Third, use easy keywords to
highlight
important details. Fourth, list those keywords in order as they
appeared
in the passage. Fifth, trim the list of keywords to make one
topic
sentence."

3. "We are
going to test our summarization skills we just
learned today!" Next, pass out the article Elephants
Recognize Selves
in Mirror to each student. Give a quick book talk: 'This article
is about how elephants can see themselves in a mirror. I wonder
what happens when they do see themself. We will have to read to
find out.' Tell the students to read the article silently.
Allow enough time for each student to finish the article and do not
move on
until all are done. Tell the students, "I am going to model for you how
to
summarize a paragraph using five way steps." Read a summary of the
article. Ask
the children to pay close attention to the important details. (It may
help to
put the summary on an overhead for the class to see)

4.
Next, say to the students, "I am going
to show you how to summarize a paragraph using the five steps we went
over.
Listen for the important facts as I read." Read the first paragraph
aloud to
the students. After summarizing the paragraph, remind the students of
the steps
you used to create the summary. Remind the students about deleting
trivial
information by saying, "did you notice how I only wrote the important
information and left out the unimportant stuff? Good!" "Next, I
will write down
keywords from the story in order on the board. Then I will make the
list of key
words smaller and turn it into one topic sentence." Then, I will read
the topic
sentence aloud to the children.

5.
Next, instruct the students to take out a
highlighter. Tell the students, "Reread the rest of the article
silently. Use
your highlighter to highlight what you think the important parts of the
article
are." Provide a sufficient amount of time for each student to finish.

6. "Now, let’s talk about what you read in
the
article. I am going to draw a picture on the chart paper.
This
drawing is called a web. Webs help us organize our information
and
understand what we know. Remember, to look at the summary
checklist on
our other chart. Where do I put the main topic on our web? (in
the middle)
What should I put in the middle of our web – what is the main topic of
what we
just read? Who can give me a main point from the article?" Give
students a chance to answer and record their answers on the web.
Explain
to the children that we should be able to create a paragraph that
summarizes
the entire article and that we can use the web to help create that
summary by
using the facts that we recorded.

7. Now I will pass out the paper for
children to make
their own individual webs and will have them work in pairs. "A
great way
to help us summarize what we have read is by creating a web. Who
can tell
me how to begin the web? That’s right. We place the topic
of the
article in the center of the paper (web). Then we write the facts
or
pieces of information out to the sides and draw a line to it from the
main
topic. Now I want each group to look at article and summarize
it.
You do not have to use everything you highlighted, and you may add
things that
you did not highlight if you feel they are important for the summary.
Remember to use the checklist to make sure you have used all five
steps
for summarizing. If you have any questions, raise your hand and I
will be
around to help you."

8.Now have the
students take out their own sheets of paper and a pencil.Give each student a copy of the article, Tiny
Invaders. Give a quick book talk: 'This
article is about all the little tiny things that we come into contact
with. There are bugs and germs and a lot more. I wonder
what these will do to out body? Let's read to find out.' "Read
this article and summarize it as best
as you can, individually.Use the five
steps we have been practicing and refer to the board if you need help."Students should summarize the story on their
own.Then have students turn in their
summarizations.

9.
Assessment: In order to assess the
children’s understanding of summarization, I will observe the children
as they
work on their web. I will compare their checklists to their webs
and will
have each of them write a brief summary paragraph based on their web
from the
article. I will also collect their individual summaries and I
will make
sure they eliminated unimportant, repeated information. I will read
each
summarization to see if the child can summarize properly.